FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to take heat from the right and the left in back-to-back appearances before Congress amid heightened scrutiny of his performance leading one of the nation\u2019s top investigative agencies.<\/p>\n
Patel is set to appear before the Senate and House Judiciary committees starting Tuesday, just days after the FBI response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk prompted a flood of GOP criticism<\/a> about how the director handled the case.<\/p>\n The director is also sure to face questions about the scores of firings that have rocked the bureau, the FBI\u2019s role in reviewing the Epstein files<\/a> and a number of other moves that Democrats argue have politicized the FBI. <\/p>\n Patel is not shying away from conflict. <\/p>\n When Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) posted a video on the social platform X running through past Patel statements he planned to use as fodder for his questions, the director shot back.<\/p>\n “Let\u2019s find out who law enforcement backs\u2026 and who supports defunding the police- answer coming tomorrow, but we already know,” Patel responded<\/a>.<\/p>\n A longtime ally of President Trump who has been a vocal critic of the multiple investigations into the president, Patel was confirmed in February in a strict party-line vote.<\/p>\n But in the wake of the Kirk shooting, more GOP voices have stepped in to air criticism of Patel\u2019s handling of the case.<\/p>\n Chris Rufo, a vocal opponent of diversity equity and inclusion practices, questioned Friday morning whether Patel has the \u201coperational expertise\u201d to lead the bureau.<\/p>\n \u201cHe performed terribly in the last few days, and it\u2019s not clear whether he has the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt the violent movements\u2014of whatever ideology\u2014that threaten the peace in the United States,\u201d Rufo wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n Steve Bannon then noted those close to the alleged Kirk shooter turned him in, saying the arrest of Tyler Robinson was \u201cnot great law enforcement work.\u201d<\/p>\n Complicating matters for Patel was a stumble in which he announced the arrest of a \u201csubject\u201d in the case \u2014 only to reverse course less than two hours later to say they had been released.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unusual for the FBI to offer much public comment about ongoing investigations, while the swift release suggested the bureau had not arrested anyone involved in the shooting.<\/p>\n Patel waved away criticism during a Monday morning appearance on \u201cFox and Friends,\u201d saying his commitment to change at the bureau includes greater transparency.<\/p>\n \u201cI was being transparent with working with the public on our findings as I had them, I stated in that message that we had a subject and that we were going to interview him, and we did, and he was released,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cCould I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment, sure, but do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not. I was telling the world what the FBI was doing as we were doing, and I’m continuing to do that. And I challenge anyone out there to find a director that has been more transparent,\u201d Patel added.<\/p>\n Aside from the controversies surrounding the Kirk investigation, a recently filed suit from three recently fired top leaders recently also adds a wealth of details for lawmakers to pick apart.<\/p>\n Patel fired the acting director who helmed the agency before he was confirmed, Brian Driscoll, along with two other high-level agents, in August, prompting a suit alleging that their removal was part of a \u201ccampaign of retribution\u201d for a perceived \u201cfailure to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n The suit alleges Patel has been ordered to carry out widespread firings by Trump administration leadership. In another instance, Emil Bove \u2014 a senior top Justice Department (DOJ) official at the time \u2014 relayed that White House aide Stephen Miller demanded the FBI \u201cconduct summary firings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPatel explained that he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President,\u201d the suit says, recounting a conversation between the two men just days before the firings.<\/p>\n According to the suit, Patel explained that there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings, because \u201cthe FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn\u2019t forgotten it.\u201d Driscoll indicated his belief that Patel\u2019s reference to his superiors meant the Justice Department and the White House, and Patel did not deny it.<\/p>\n The FBI has lost an astounding number of leaders since Trump\u2019s inauguration, with the administration firing all top career officials responsible for leading various branches, as well as numerous special agents in charge of field offices. That includes Mehtab Syed, a counterterrorism expert who in February was tapped to lead the Salt Lake Field Office. <\/p>\n Additionally, while the focus on the Epstein files has waned in the wake of the Kirk shooting, Democrats have already teed up questions for Patel<\/a> on an FBI review of those filed that spurred a memo saying additional release<\/a> would not be necessary. <\/p>\n House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote Patel last week asking for a breakdown of FBI resources reviewing the files as well as when he became aware Trump was referenced in them.<\/p>\n \u201cObvious questions abound: why were so many agents tasked with reviewing documents that were never released? What specific instructions were they given during the review? What information did these agents uncover that led DOJ and FBI to reverse their promise to release the files, and how are these decisions related to the President?\u201d Raskin wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to take heat from the right and the left in back-to-back appearances ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}